Samsung ST1000 Digital Camera - Gift Idea for the Internet-Savvy:

The Filipino Christmas tradition is never without parties. And with parties, comes the countless photo shoots among families, friends and loved ones. This is where Samsung digital cameras come in as fitting gift for the holidays.But more than that, have you heard of a digital camera with Wifi, Bluetooth and Geo-tagging capabilities? Yes, Samsung came up with the world's first commercial digital

More Hip & Style with Bobson Series II

Known for its laid-back casual clothing, Bobson raises up the bar with the relaunching of their Series II. It follows the successful 2005 R.E.D (Revolutionized Enhanced Denim) campaign of Bobson Denim bottoms.Seeing a timely demand from its customers for a redefined fashion denim, Bobson Jeans intend to satisfy this need through its bolder and stylish line of Series II. Moreover, they are now

Samsung's 2View ST550 & ST500 Digital Cameras are Double the Fun

It's double the fun this Christmas season with Samsung's recently released 2View models.I got the chance to visit their booth last week in SM Mall of Asia and got to take a closer look at the ST550 & ST500 models. At a handy size, it has a shouting 12.2 mega pixels.I actually saw the Samsung 2View ST550 already last month in Singapore when fellow blogger Noemi Dado was carrying one in our

Twenty albums you should hear (Part III)

Islands - Return to the Sea

It took me a few listens to start liking this - probably because people had been recommending Islands to me since high school and there was no way it could live up to my expectations - but it's definitely good low-key dreampop.

One major complaint though - the first song, "Swans (Life After Death)" doesn't do anything for me. And it's nine minutes long. Bad start to the album, and perhaps that's what left a sour taste in my mouth for so long. It's not that I have a problem with long songs - "Bay of Pigs" and "Rubies" are two of my favourite Destroyer tunes, and they clock in at a combined 22 minutes - it's just that this one is low-key to the extreme and never really gets me into it.

Things pick up right away, though, as "Humans" kicks of a run of four awesome songs and seven good ones. "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby" is probably the catchiest of the bunch and a great starting point, while "Tsuxiit" is a fun little instrumental ditty. Fun summer music mostly.

It drags a bit at the end again - "If" and "Ones" are a bit too dreamy for my taste, and "Renaud" combines that with the cardinal bonus track sin of only starting after several minutes of silence.

Overall though, fun little album.

Metric - Fantasies

Obviously a great album. It won the CASBY award for Best Album of 2009, and who am I to disagree with an award I'd never heard of until a few months ago?

The problem is that the four songs released as singles thus far can all be found in the first six tracks - so if you go into this already knowing the singles, as I did, the back will really seem to drag and not be as good.

That's not to say that the back half is bad - it's a little less polished, as if the bulk of the production work was spent on the first half, but it's still strong female-fronted pop that at times borders rock. And actually, "Stadium Love" is quite good.

But let me just say a few words about the songs in the first half: They. Are. Freaking. Awesome. "Gimme Sympathy" is a little more low-key and would probably sound great acoustic, "Gold Guns Girls" and "Sick Muse" are just plain great, and "Help I'm Alive" is probably the weakest of the singles but still solid.

And, hey, a girl singer. Apparently I don't discriminate like that anymore.

The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema

Considering how much I absolutely love everything these guys have ever done, it's surprising how easy it was for me to pick this album over the rest. Mass Romantic goes a little overboard with the zaniness, Challengers is a little too low-key and mellow, and Electric Version is close but ultimately not quite as just plain fun as this one.

We start off with the titular track, which is catchy, singalong-able (by design), and very high-tempo. Great song to kick off a concert, and of course good way to start the album. The follow-up is "The Bones of an Idol", which is a decent enough song that really sounds like it belongs on Challengers more than here.

Then we get into a frankly awesome run. "Use It" and "The Bleeding Heart Show" are two awesome songs which should catch on with anybody who ever hears them. The harmonies, the hooks, the repetitive catchy choruses - it's all there. "Jackie, Dressed In Cobras" is the first Dan Bejar contribution, and it works well because it's considerably less insane than what you usually throws on one these albums. Or maybe it just seems this way because Carl and Neko provide more vocals than usual for a Dan song.

"The Jessica Numbers" is a strong power-pop callback to the previous albums, and "These Are The Fables" is something completely unique in the NPs' catalogue - a Neko-sung ballad. The structure is really, really simple, but it's still a lovely song. The back end of the album is a little more disjointed - not bad songs, but they don't flow as nicely as the front half does. The album ends on "Stacked Crooked", which probably wins my vote for most underrated NPs song of all time.

Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping

I...don't really know what to say about this one. It's indie, but it's not the sort of indie most of the rest of this list is. It's quirky, unorthodox, and highly sexual. I think you have to listen to it to fully understand what I'm talking about.

There are a few songs I particularly enjoy, so I'll comment on those and ignore the rest. Nothing terribly bad though.

"Nonpareil of Favor" is the first track, and it's a false start of sorts - it makes you think this might just be another album full of typical indie love songs, albeit a good one. And maybe a little more instrumental than most. This idea is shattered in the first line of the next song, "Wicked Wisdom" - and the second, and the third, and pretty much every recognizable line in that song.

"For Our Elegant Caste" has a chorus where the obviousness of the hinting at bisexuality is matched only by its ridiculous level of catchiness, "An Eluardian Instance" is back to heterosexuality, and "Gallery Piece" is obtuse in whether it's meant as a love song or a love/hate song.

"Women's Studies Victims" is oddly catchy for being more-or-less spoken word. Same goes for "And I've Seen A Bloody Shadow". "Death Is Not A Parallel Move" sticks out as being a little more electro than most of the album, "Beware Our Nubile Miscreants" is a little more overt than most of the album, and "Id Enganger" is a little more fun than the rest of the album.

A couple other notes - the funk influence is kind of neat, and some songs do have that thing going on where they were probably originally two or three separate songs. Still a fun, if somewhat different, album.

R.E.M. - Out Of Time

It's no Abbey Road, but it's the other old album on this list. (I thought the Tragically Hip's Up To Here made the cut, but apparently not.)

I have a bit of a bias towards this album because it was a standard for me to drum along to when I was starting out with that. Doesn't change that it narrowly beats Automatic For The People as my favourite R.E.M. album.

"Radio Song" is an unusual song, at least by R.E.M. standards - a slower opening half followed by a rap collaboration with KRS-One of all people. "Losing My Religion" is up next, and it's a pretty well-known song, so I won't say much about it other than that it was probably the first song I ever liked the lyrics of. "Low" is, well, low - moody, short on instruments, but still enjoyable.

"Near Wild Heaven" is a fun song where ten-year-old me thought it sounded like the band was having a party, plus I like hearing Mike Mills on lead vocals. "Endgame" is again something different - certainly not a pop song, a bit of Stipe scat singing, also a lead trumpet solo. (I'm a firm believer that any song can be improved with a trumpet solo, this will be the subject of a future post.)

I'm not as familiar with the rest of the album, because my parents had it on tape and I usually just listened to the A-side most of the time. "Shiny Happy People" is what it is, obviously. "Belong" has spoken word vocals and nice Mills/Buck harmonies, probably the most underrated song on the album in my opinion. "Texarkana" is another catchy Mills-sung tune, and I don't have much to say about the rest.

And this is probably the only review ever of Out Of Time not to include the word 'mandolin'.

...dammit.

--------------

A couple quick programming notes.

The final batch of five albums will make these seem like the ultimate of the mainstream.

Tomorrow is Grey Cup day. I definitely will not be doing a liveblog the way I have previous years - essay season is unfortunately in full swing, and I've already set aside a couple of hours for Chelsea/Arsenal (I've turned into a soccer fan, apparently).

If I watch the game, there's a better-than-decent chance I'll give livetweeting a try, so follow me on Twitter or something.

For the record, I think it's the Als' year.

Also, Andrew Coyne is anti-feminist. As usual with Coyne, I don't disagree.

--Ryan

Some links and a video

Taking a break from music and from abstract politics to share with you some of the most awesome pit stops on the information superhighway.

First up, Lifehacker. It's been around for a few years, it's been popular for a few years, but maybe you're like me and have somehow managed to completely ignore it until recently.

Every update on Lifehacker is designed to improve your life or help you with a common problem - with solutions that are either free or extremely thrifty. Although not as tech-y as sister site Gizmodo, technology still features prominently in Lifehacker updates - new applications, new ways to use existing technologies, et cetera.

However, Lifehacker also has plenty of tips that are more suited to a DIY lifestyle and involve no tech support whatsoever - the front page currently tells you how to make any pair of gloves work with a touchscreen device, how to use sand to prop up awkward objects you might be repairing, how to properly gorge to maximize your enjoyment of a feast and minimize the after-effects, and how to wipe water marks off of wooden furniture with toothpaste. A nifty little site that's updated many times daily.

If Lifehacker's plethora of time-saving ideas has left you with untold hours spare and no idea what to occupy your time with, maybe you should give Sporcle a try.

Sporcle is a site full of trivia quizzes. And that's all there is to it. You can try and name common foods in Spanish, countries of the world, MLB all-time stolen base leaders, song titles from opening lyrics, or just about anything else you can think of.

There are hundreds of games - all timed, and all with the ability to compare your results to everyone else - with six new games added every day (three on weekends).

Word of advice: stick to the games on the main site. Do not go into the 'User Created' section - not a quality issue or anything, but it'll get far, far too addictive at that point.

And if you're still bored - or even if you're not - take five minutes to watch this video. It's completely awesome.



--Ryan

World Pyro Olympics 2009 Cancelled

Sadly, the World Pyro Olympics 2009 has been canceled and is rescheduled for January 2010. This was after the weather did not cooperate with last weekend's fireworks display.The two shows from Germany and China met some rainy weather at the Fort Bonifacio grounds causing it to be delayed. Albeit the show went on a little bit later, the fireworks was still spectacular. It might have been better

Google me this

Despite this being another JN229 post, it has nothing to do with politics. Instead, I complain about our understanding of technology.

For an assignment in another class, I had to cover a Brantford city council meeting. One of the items discussed was a proposed extension of Old Park Road on the outskirts of the city's west end.

To get a better understanding of just what would have to be uprooted for this road to come into place, I used Google Maps to take a look at the area. Particularly, I was interested in what a local imam said about the road possibly going over a cemetery. Here's what Google Maps had to say:


Pretty simple, right? Oak Park Road carries on a little past the end of civilization as we know it at Hardy Street, and then you get a dead end.

Except that's not what happens. Switch to satellite view, and you get this:


There's other roads there. Some of them may be dirt (further zooming is mostly inconclusive although a couple are definitely paved). There's even a bridge over the Grand River.

Then I had the thought: I've seen this before. Google doesn't seem to add new roads to their maps - so since the satellite photos were added after Google Maps debuted, the satellite maps will show roads that the regular maps don't. Likewise, Street View will (where applicable) show even newer additions to the infrastructure.

One question jumps to mind right away. If 9/11 were to happen today, how long would it taken before the World Trade Center wasn't part of Google Maps? Google Satellite Maps? Google Street View? It's not like they update these things often.

I'm not suggesting that this is a glaring error on Google's part - at least not yet. After all, would you be able to stay on top of every new road and building that goes up around the world?

Down the road it could be more of a problem if my hunch is correct and the original Google Maps is never updated - at least a problem for Google, as they'd likely lose market share to more up-to-date maps. In this sense, the in-car GPS manufacturers' tendency to release an updated data pack every year or two is less money-grabbing than it is providing a useful service.

But there are two things that jump out at me. For one, it suggests that Google has a tendency to work on one of their services, get it as close to perfection as possible, and then abandon it when they have something new to play with (i.e. satellite photos). Considering Google's public reputation for being objective and infallible, this is a major blemish on their record. (Heck, the alleged objectivity of Google could be a nice blog post on its own if I were feeling a little more motivated tonight.)

Also, it leads me to think of Google Maps as less "this is the world, this is how the world is" and more "this is how the world was a few years ago" - but in a good way. Google can essentially act as historical cartographers for the entire planet, keeping archived maps of the entire world that would be tremendously useful for future researchers to see the evolution of cities.

Whether Google can be trusted with all that power is an entirely different debate - but it's not like we aren't already trusting them with far more.

--Ryan

LED light bulbs

More and more LED light bulbs are made for sale in Hong Kong.
We have various types of LED light bulbs, all these makers are providing choice for us, Philips MasterLED, CitiLED, Toshiba, Optiled, and some local assembly houses using good renowned LED such as SSL, K2, Seoul Semi LED, They are selling at price of HKD$138 for 5W, HKD$250 for
7 W consists of 7 pieces of K2 Leds, Cold Warm white is also available.

From what we can see, the average selling price of LED light bulb is dropping at a rate of -20% per year. I am expecting that large company will soon having it LED,replacement light bulb in volume production, plus the over demand MasterLED in Hong Kong Market.

I am using all K2 type LED replacement light bulb at home. We believe that by 2012 the ASP of a 7 W LED light bulb will be merely HKD$50.00 (approx. USD$4. That was a reasonable and affordable price for most of us.

Of course there is certain theory saying that only the LED light bulb is selling at 2X of the incandescent are able to attract for huge penetration. But I think that is a thereorical case, and 2X is far away. Probably 8X-10X will be feasible in not long later… let’s prepare for this huge market of LED replacement light bulbs to come.

ASM is the one who is supporting the requireed LED bonding equipment for the lighting industry. ASM's Web site:www.asmpacific.com

Feverip

Digital Filipino Web Awards 2009 Winners

As part of the E-Commerce Summit 2009, this year's Digital Filipino Web Awards 2009 was held at the Grand Ballroom of Hotel Intercontinental in Makati City last November 13, 2009.They had a significant increase in the number of nominees and submissions this year. This just means that more and more people are aware of the recognition giving body Digital Filipino Club. The venue was also a great

Efren Penaflorida is CNN Hero of the Year

"Pushcart Classroom" educator Efren Penaflorida is declared CNN Hero of the Year 2009 as he championed the children with commitment to the welfare of the young Filipino people.Amidst difficulties, he brought education to the marginalized sectors of his country utilizing a pushcart where his teaching materials like the blackboard is situated.">Ang pagbabago kasi, magmumula yan sa atin." says

Corazon Aquino is 1st National Thank You Day Awardee

In the recent 1st National Thank You Day Awards held last Friday, Nov.20, 2009 in Mall of Asia (MOA), the late former president Corazon C. Aqunio was declared the 1st National Thank You Day Awardee.More fondly called as Tita Cory, first female Philippine president Cory Aquino bested other nominees such as the late master rapper Francis Magalona, comedy king Dolphy, CNN Hero of the Year 2009 Efren

Twenty albums you should hear (Part II)

Here's the second batch of five.

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Remember how last time I mentioned that The Duckworth Lewis Method wouldn't sound out of place on an oldies radio station? Now that I've given it some thought, neither would these guys. Catchy vocal hooks with enough over-production to remind you of a lo-fi ELO or something, instruments kept to the background, and an overall pleasing sound.

An article in Maclean's a couple of weeks back had an offhand mention to Fleet Foxes being thrown on at a party where the previous music had been all Beatles and their ilk, and the Foxes being 'well-received'. I'm not surprised.

The only complaint I can level is that...well, it sounds too much like what's thought of as "old people music". Listening to the album again now, I'm still getting the "hey, this is good!" feeling I've had every other time, but I'm also realizing that it's background music, it's for people who say they like jazz when what they really mean is that they don't like metal, it's not something that will ever command 100% of your attention.

But it's still good. It's fun, it's folksy, and it's certainly a lot more accessible than most of this list. If you're after specific song recommendations - since this is one album where it's okay - let's go with "White Winter Hymnal", "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song", and "Your Protector".

The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound

I know, I've talked about this one before. But it deserves it. Deserves more, really.

This is what modern rock should be. While Nickelback might appeal to the lowest common denominator, Gaslight appeals to every denominator. While Metric might be making people think pop-rock is the only good rock anymore, Gaslight are proving them wrong. And so forth.

If you like Tom Petty or Bob Seger, you'll love this. Although I'm not a huge fan of the last three songs, they're still far better than the back-end filler on most albums.

The '59 Sound starts off with the somewhat jangly "Great Expectations" and the titular track, then gets into a few more straightforward rock songs, ending at "Film Noir", probably the closest thing this album gets to a hard rock or true punk song.

"Miles Davis & The Cool" took a while to grow on me, but is now one of my favourite songs on the album - and it only gets better with the next three, which are catchy, somewhat diverse, and just all-around awesome rock.

This CD should be blaring out of every car in the summertime. Awesome, awesome rock.

(Sink or Swim, Gaslight's first offering, isn't as good frankly. You can see where the foundations were laid for this one, but '59 is miles ahead.)

The Guess Who - Running Back Thru Canada

Heh. Yeah.

A bit of a throwback to my pre-indie tastes, this is the double-album that got me through dozens of night shifts stocking grocery store shelves.

There's something undefinably cool about hearing the music your parents grew up to, only thirty years later and with the musicians thirty years older.

Backstory: In 1999, The Guess Who reunited for the first time since 1983, to play a cross-Canada tour. The entire tour was recorded, and songs from many different venues - Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Barrie come to mind right away - were combined to make this double album, which gives the feeling of being at one of the tour dates.

The songs will be instantly recognizable to anybody who grew up with The Guess Who - or anybody who, like me, grew up with classic rock. With Randy Bachman being part of the group, a few BTO songs are thrown in for good measure.

The capper is a 14-minute rendition of "American Woman", with lead singer Burton Cummings still sounding awesome.

This is one where you need to listen to the whole thing - it'll take a while, but if you remember the tunes, it'll be worth it. If not...well, it's some nice Canadiana for you.

Human Highway - Moody Motorcycle

A certain commenter will scold me for not knowing the backstory behind this group, but it's one guy from Islands and...somebody else. They play catchy lo-fi poppish stuff.

"The Sound" and "All Day" are both great tracks which gets the album off to a fine start. It's hard to say if the album never quite gets back to that level of excellence or if all the songs sound somewhat similar, so eventually they all blend together, but those two remain my favourites.

This is great naptime music. Drifting in and out of sleep, you won't know when one song ends and another begins, which is just fine by me.

"Moody Motorcycle" is the next song to stand out to me - although after another listen through, I think I mistakenly believed that half the songs were Islands tunes. "Moody Motorcycle" is a little less dreamy, a little quicker, and thus memorable.

I'm worried that I'm being too negative on this album - it's very good folksy stuff, it's just that there's not too much I can really say about it.

"Duties Of A Lighthouse Keeper" is another good song, and "I Wish I Knew" provides a bit different of an ending.

Good album. On the accessibility scale, it's pretty high up there, but not like Fleet Foxes or something.

Intelligence - Fake Surfers

This is a little lower on the accessibility scale. Not quite Animal Collective, but it's not too far off really.

The name of the game here is some relatively catchy vocals followed by a crapload of synthesizers and a guitar. "Moody Tower", the second song in, is the perfect example of this.

The album goes by in a breeze - twelve tracks, but barely over half an hour of music. Every song is pretty short - which is good, as if they were longer they would be obviously stretched out.

"Debt & ESP", the third track, is probably my favourite track on the album, if only because it's the catchiest. "I Hear Depression" is the exact opposite - vocals are not memorable, but the instrumental hook will be stuck in your head for hours.

I'm guessing this is the sort of album that gets easier and easier to enjoy when the amount of substances you're using gets greater and greater.

This album definitely doesn't drag in the latter half - the best way I can describe "Universal Babysitter" is that it's a Wolf Parade song if Spencer Krug no-showed and they didn't bother replacing him, I take back what I said earlier because "Thank You God For Fixing The Tape" is definitely both my favourite and the catchiest, "Pony People" sounds so normal that I'm sure I thought it was a Fleet Foxes tune, and "The Unessential Cosmic Perspectiv" is less crazy than you'd expect the crazy album-ending song to be.

In fact, I'd argue that while the trend is for most albums to be front-loaded and have random subpar material at the back, Fake Surfers is the opposite - it gets better as it goes on.

-----------------------

I still haven't done the full pruning and replenishing of the blogroll at the left that I'd like to do, but I would like to draw your attention to one new addition.

Must Win Situation is a sports blog featuring The Sputnik's sports editor (and noted friend of the homeless) Kyle Brown. Also two other people who I don't know. And a podcast with two of my roommates for some reason.

But it's definitely good sports commentary, and it stands out by not just being the hockey/NFL/Jays combo you'd expect - NCAA, CIS, and even fishing have all been tackled on MWS.

I don't blog about sports nearly as much as I used to - so if you're missing that, check out MWS.

--Ryan

Join Facebook Paypal Wishlist App

Earning $100 with Facebook's Paypal Wishlist Application, the latest application craze which seemed to have started 2 days ago, is now abuzz all over the Internet. You simply go to this paypal wishlist facebook page and choose your 5 wish items!It's that simple and you can start earning $1 for every referral who also makes the set of wishlist. Of course, for the promotion to be financially viable

Finn's Turtle

Finn's Turtle

This is a 4 part (each canvas 9X12) painting of a lime green turtle on navy and white striped background.  I painted this for a good friend/ cousin my marriage, who is going to hang this in her little boy's nursery.  Her bedding is from www.gap.com and is called giggle.  I can't wait to see it once it is hung!

Everyday Bloomers

Here are a few more samples of eyelet underwear/ diaper covers that can be worn everyday anytime of year!  These were so much fun to paint!  I wish I had someone at home to wear these!!!  These all run size 1-5 as well and can be machine washed.  

"Cherry Berry"

"Green Apple"

"Blue Bunny"

"Cupcake w/ Green Cherry"

"Blue Elephant"

"Red Crab"

"Pink Starfish w/ Green Dots"

"Pink Cupcake w/ Red Cherry"

"Green Alligator"

"Pink Starfish w/ Red Dots"

"White Bunny"

"Pink Chick"

Christmas Bloomers

Here are my latest creations!!!  I have started hand painting eyelet lace underwear/ diaper cover sin size 1-5.  They are adorable and here are just a few for the holidays!  

"Santa Hat"

"Christmas Tree"

"Rudolph"

Mocha-Krista Ranillo Kissing Photos All Over The Internet

I just saw it this morning from famous social media websites like Twitter, Plurk and Facebook. The Mocha-Krista Ranillo hot girl-to-girl-kissing-action photos are all over the internet.I'm just not so sure if Krista Ranillo is already aware of them. On Mocha's side, and if I'm not mistaken, the photos came from her own website: mochauson.com.

New Moon Better Than Twilight?

After getting a lot of flack again from a number of film critics just like its predecessor Twilight, I think New Moon deserves to be compared to the former instead.From someone who got to watch New Moon without watching Twilight, I think the movie was actually a good one for its target audience - the romantically inclined movie goers.Although the die-hard book lovers would expectedly point out

Go Eco-Friendly This Christmas!

I don't usually post about personal fab finds here in Digital Manila. However, I recently came across some interesting products from Echostore while meeting with some friends at Le Bistro.In particular is this antibac hand sanitizer spray which smelled really good after application. The label also indicated no harmful chemicals used. It turns out that Echostore's environment-friendly products

Sammi shows-off (devices) at Orange Partner Developer Day

Last Tuesday we were fortunate enough to be invited along to Orange Partner’s London Developer Day. The event ran all day and was held at Orange’s fantastic developer centre located in the Chiswick Business Park – just across the road from Gunnersbury tube (district/overground lines). This centre gives developers the opportunity to go in and test their apps on live Orange devices, a great way to check that your app works perfectly on a variety of different handsets.

The day was divided into two parts, separated by a great lunch which also provided the perfect opportunity for developers to network. The morning consisted of several presentation sessions. These covered the opportunities Orange have for developers with their A-Store solutions – across all platforms (Symbian, Windows Mobile and Java) – how to submit your app to Orange, and also a really insightful overview on mobile UI design issues.

The afternoon was then divided into one-on-one-sessions where developers could meet with a representative from the Orange Partner team to answer any questions not covered in the presentations and discuss further opportunities for collaboration. While these meetings were taking place we were able to show the other attendees the latest Samsung devices on the Orange network and discuss the opportunities available in the Samsung Mobile Innovator program.

For those who couldn’t make it on Tuesday, Orange is running a series of webinars over the next two weeks that cover similar topics to the ones presented on the day:

• 24th Nov: "The App Shop client - what is it and how can I get my apps onto it?"
• 25th Nov: "Let’s help you develop, test and finalise your app (technically)"
• 26th Nov: "the apps we are looking for right now"

These are being held in the run-up to December’s LeWeb event in Paris, where Orange is a gold sponsor and will be revealing their new on-device App Shop.

Thanks once again to Orange for a fantastic day.

Sharp starts Supplies LED Backlights to Sony

TVs that use LED backlights are expected to be a major battle ground for consumer electronics makers, and such move would likely improve their competitiveness against industry giant Samsung Electronics Co LTd.

Japan's Sharp will begin supplying LED backlights for LCD televisions to Sony Corp, expanding their alliance in LCD panels. The two will also jointly develop next-generation backlights, it said without citing sources.

Sony plans to invest about 68 billion yen by April 2011 to take a one-third stake in a joint venture with Sharp to jointly produce LCD panels at a cutting-edge plant in western Japan.

The plant, which started output last month, is the world's first factory that processes so-called 10th-generation glass substrates, which are bigger than earlier-generation substrates and help reduce per-panel output costs.

Submit your app for the Omnia II and win $100,000 – entries now open!

Samsung Application Store Developer Challenge 2009

Our first Samsung Application Store Developer Challenge is now open for entries. Submit your app for the Omnia II by Thursday 10th December 2009 and win your share in a $330,000 prize pool.

This year there are four separate prize categories for both English and Italian language entries.

Further information can be found on the Events page of the Seller Office.
http://seller.samsungapps.com/contestcs/getContestMain.as
To access this link you must be a registered member of the Samsung Seller Office.

Discover how to target the Samsung Omnia II using our latest SDK at Samsung Mobile Innovator.
http://innovator.samsungmobile.com

On celebrity

Sarah Palin is back in the news thanks to the impending release of her book and a recent appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show.

The main effect of all this seems to have been for journalists to write about the renewed possibility of Palin running for - and maybe winning - the American presidency in 2012. (My favourite line, and I've seen it in too many places to attribute it to just one person, is that this is what the Mayans were expecting.)

President Palin, the conventional logic goes, would be a disaster. A combination of celebrity and neo-con, she would be able to enacted a Bush-like agenda with far more support because of her Clinton-like folksy charm.

In reality, I'm not so convinced that a Sarah Palin presidency would spell the end of Western civilization, or even the more realistic option of an increasingly laughable America.

American presidents do not really have all that much power - look at how far Obama has had to stray to the right to accomplish even a tiny fraction of what he'd like to. Why would Sarah Palin be any different? Wouldn't Congress still be able to impose its will on her orders?

More importantly, Sarah Palin is not a hard ideologue like Bush Sr. or Obama or even Jimmy Carter - she is perhaps the most malleable politician we've ever seen. If anybody can convince her that something is a good idea - and it seems pretty easy to do just that, Palin must be either incapable of or unwilling to engage in any sort of critical thought - she will back that idea until her dying breath.

I don't think she realizes how stupid some of the things she says will seem. I think she honestly believes that she is doing what's best for America. In that sense, at least, she has the right motivation.

The problems arise if she chooses to surround herself with people who might be less scrupulous, less willing to suggest policies which are good for the country, and more willing to suggest policies that are good for the people suggesting them - which, given that this is the GOP we're talking about, seems like a foregone conclusion.

It's okay to want to be president for the ego boost - didn't Obama spend the first month of his reign inviting different musicians and celebrities to the White House? What's worrying is when you're so caught up in the celebrity of the presidency that the business of governing the country comes second (or third, or fourth, or...). Especially if the people you delegate it to aren't the right people for such a task. That's why I'm terrified of Sarah Palin.

-----------------

Speaking of celebrity (how's that for a forced segue?), it was one of the thousand or so topics that came up in class today. Basically, the argument was that the primary purpose of blogs is not to provide journalism - bloggers don't actually care about reporting the news on their blogs, they're just hoping to get noticed and become (on some level) celebrities.

At first, I disagreed with this idea. Specifically, I thought of this blog - I've never considered it a celebrity-making endeavour. It's a place for me to hone my writing and analytical skills. If people happen to enjoy reading my random brain droppings, great - that's why it's open to the public. But it's not like I go out of my way to court an audience.

Well, that last bit isn't exactly true. Or true at all, really. Case in point: tomorrow's issue of The Sputnik has a little plug for this blog.

I could take the easy way out and claim that it doesn't really count as seeking publicity when it wasn't my idea. But when it was suggested to me, I still said yes. And beyond that, I've put stuff up on Twitter in the past if I've been particularly proud of it.

There is literally nothing that would attract people to this place over any of the million other blogs out there, aside from a personal connection with me. Bad nursery rhymes, links to websites people already know about, and mildly amusing personal anecdotes aren't exactly high-quality material.

And yet, I publish our URL in the school paper, in the hopes that it'll attract another reader to my bizarre and often incomprehensible writings. (Which would give us a grand total of, what, maybe three?)

So I guess somewhere, deep down, I do want to be a celebrity, no matter how much I may deny it on the surface.

Just don't put me anywhere near TMZ.

--Ryan

(P.S. To our new third reader, I'm not always this introspective. Nor this cynical. Honest.)

Soraa Inc. USA

Momentive Performance Materials will receive $4.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to continue the development of breakthrough technology for the low cost production of light emitting diodes (LEDs) used in solid state lighting.

Based on Momentive's platform technology and initiated by Momentive, the two-year energy research project brings together a team of companies that are expert in ammonothermal bulk gallium-nitride (GaN) crystal growth technology, high pressure/high temperature reactor development and LED device testing and development.

Collaborating with Momentive on the award-winning project are Soraa, Inc. and Advanced Photonic Crystals, LLC. Soraa was co-founded by world-leading experts in GaN materials and devices. Advanced Photonic Crystals, LLC is an on-shore manufacturer of innovative laser and optical crystals, with expertise in high-pressure autoclave engineering and crystal growth that is being brought to bear on this project. They would focus on HBLED for lighting and illumination.

feverip

Illumitex will go for 300 Lm/watt LED in 2015

Illumitex LLC (Austin, Texas), started in 2005, the company now has 25 employees, with the toolset required to create and test HB-LED prototypes. Mass production will be done in Asia.

Paul Winberg VP of Engineering said a new startup aimed at the high-brightness light-emitting diode (HB-LED) market, says it has proprietary optics technology that will increase the amount of light emitted from the package.

Co-founder and CTO Dung Duong brought optics engineering ideas to the table, when three co-founders started the company in Winberg's garage. "Our packaging technology is such that we approach it from an optics standpoint, with the use of secondary optics," Winberg said. "By doing that, we can direct the light so it all comes down to the front of the package, which gives customers a much smaller package.

Illumitex buys commercial epitaxial sapphire wafers, and builds the diode much as other HB-LED vendors do. The company's advantage lies in the metal reflective layers incorporated into the flip-chip package, the external quantum efficacy is the more important metric. The highly refractive surfaces in an LED and its package can quickly dissipate the emitted brightness and turn light into heat, reducing the thermal benefits that LEDs offer.

The package measures 1.1 mm on a side, and 1.5 mm high, which Winberg said is "much smaller than anything else out there. That advantage stems from the secondary optics in the package, which get more light out." Flip Chip technology is mainly the process of Lumileds and that has certain good points as Gold to gold has very good heat dissipation highway, but the negative side is the high manufacturing cost as the Flip Chip process is slow typical in term of 1-1.2sec a LED, plus the need to have underfill by jetting machine.

There are only a few companies in the world produce Thermosonic Bonding equipment for LED. Namely, ASM, Panasonic and TDK.

Illumitex’s primary product will start at 100 then 150 Lm/W at 300ma driving current...till 2015, they would produce a LED with 300 Lm/W!


Feverip

Coming LED show

LDI 2009
November 19-22, 2009
Orlando, Florida, United States
Lighting and sound show for the entertainment industry.

White LEDs 2009
December 01-05, 2009
Taipei, Taiwan
The Second International Conference on White LEDs and Solid State Lighting (ICWLEDSSL 2009)

Strategies in Light 2010
February 10-12, 2010
Santa Clara Convention Center, California, United States
The leading conference and exhibition for the LED and Solid-State Lighting global community.

LED China 2010
March 02-05, 2010
China Import and Export Fair Pazhou Complex, Area B, Guangzhou, China
With an overwhelming success of the last edition, LED CHINA 2010 will take place at Pazhou Complex, Guangzhou, again from March 2nd to March 5th, 2010. It is estimated that LED CHINA 2010 will gather about 350 exhibitors taking 25,000 sq. m. exhibition space. LED CHINA is a leading global event for LED application.

Light+Building 2010
April 11-16, 2010
Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Lightfair 2010
May 12-14, 2009
Las Vegas Convention Center, United States

electronica 2010
November 09-12, 2010
Munich, Germany
The world's leading trade fair for components, systems and applications. Meet decision-makers, developers and buyers.

Eevee Wins Nescafe Soundskool 2009 Competition

Rizal Stadium in Manila rocked last night with 13 celebrity bands and 13 top college bands from all over the Philippines as they converged for the Nescafe Soundskool 2009 College Band Competition Finals Night where the Eeevee band emerged victorious.After months of eliminations and performances in different parts of the Philippines and a week-long workshop in Boracay under the mentorship of music

Support Local Music with MTV Emerge

In last month's press conference, DOT and Apl.de.Ap enthusiastically introduced a number of projects including Apl.de.Ap's newest music video "Take Me to the Philippines" to promote Philippine tourism and the MTV Emerge project.Made posssible through MTV, Jeepney Music, and Department of Tourism collaboration, MTV Emerge aims to be a platform for unsigned local music groups to showcase their

Pacquiao Defeats Cotto, Dandruff, & Hair Fall :)

Once again, Pacquiao emerged victorious and has proven his boxing prowess to the world as he beat Miguel Cotto in round 12 of the recently concluded Pacquiao vs Cotto match.I am not surprised, what else is new? In the Philippines, more than not, it's not a question if Manny Pacquiao will win a match or not. The question asked is in which round Manny will knockdown an opponent for good. It's where

Nescafe Soundskool Grand Finals Tonight!

NESCAFÉ 3in1 Soundskool, the country’s most anticipated inter-collegiate band competition on its fifth year will hold its Grand Finals Night tonight at the Ninoy Aquino Sports Stadium. Thirteen of the best college bands from across the Philippines will be performing against one another and alongside some of the best Pinoy music acts.The 13 bands will be competing for the PhP250,000 cash prize, an

Starbucks Goes LEDs

Illumination Lighting is undergoing a revolution change On Dec. 31, the hugely popular and highly inefficient Edison incandescent lamp turns 130 years old. The next day it's 2010, and Australia will move to phase them out. The EU, the U.S. and other nations will follow over the next few years

Recently Wal-Mart had proceeded a deal with Cree to use their HB LED lighting solution for their 6,500 stores.

Next time, when you are in a Starbucks, make sure to look up at the ceiling and check out the lights.

Coffee behemoth Starbucks will replace conventional lights with LED bulbs in 8,000 stores by March 2010.

The switch from incandescent lamps and other vacuum-and-chemical lights to solid state lighting is expected to reduce energy consumption in a store by 7 percent. Starbucks overall has a goal of reducing energy consumption by 25 percent by the end of 2010.

You just don't get that Starbucks mood lighting out of a box. 1,000 outlets in the U.S. have already been retrofitted with LEDs.

Those LED lights come from General Electric, which tweaked one of its existing designs to meet the aesthetic and design criteria of Starbucks.

While the bulbs still cost far more than conventional bulbs, the price is coming down. Panasonic, Sharp, Philips, Osram and Lemnis Lighting all have 60-watt equivalents that cost around $40. The commercial market will likely adopt LEDs first – the lower maintenance and replacement costs lead to a quicker payback.

Consumers generally don't hire people to change their bulbs so the economic argument is tougher.

Still, LED-makers like GE and Osram are experimenting with ways to these enhance lights – Osram has one coming for consumers that can splash muted colors into a room – to boost the shelf appeal.

Potentially, LEDs can also cut air conditioning bills because the light itself doesn't generate heat. The fridges in the supermarket will be benefited if they are fitted with LED.
Hong Kong, yet still promoting the CFL lighting by our Executive Officer… a bit not feeling uncomfortable as we are lag behind other countries, not US, EU, even Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and China.

Not even go in par with our motherland China! China is doing a lot of afford in promoting the use of LED… In Singapore, Taiwan and China. Almost 90% traffic light is LEDs, whereas in Hong Kong…. I can tell you, we are the loyal Customer for Edison incandescent lamps, we are all 100% Incandescent lamps…. Is it Sarcastic!

Feverip

Samsung Loses LCD Patent Dispute, Sharp Wins

Samsung lost a LCD patent-infringement case brought upon by Sharp.

The US International Trade Commission upheld a ruling by an ITC administrative judge on 9 Nov. stating that Samsung infringed on four of Sharp’s LCD patents. The LCD patents are related to improving viewing angles and response times. The ITC also said that Samsung must stop selling displays in the US that infringe on those patents. Sharp originally filed the suit against Samsung in March 2008. Samsung claimed that the company expects no major impact on its LCD business from the ITC’s ruling and is confident of its ability to meet demand for its LCD products. Samsung also noted that the company has no plans to negotiate with Sharp on the issue.

According to James Chung, Samsung spokesman:
We are fully committed to honor our responsibility to our business partners and are taking appropriate actions to meet the market demand for Samsung LCD panels and products without any interruption.

Presidential Review Samsung is required to post a bond worth 100% of the affected products pending a review of the ITC ruling by President Barack Obama. Obama can overturn the ban if he finds the ruling contrary to the public’s interest. The presidential review period can take up to 60 days. The ITC case number is 337-TA-631. The import ban should not have any impact on the LCD goods that have already been imported into the US. Also because of the duration of the presidential review Samsung’s holiday season sales should have little to no impact.

Vertical Alignment Sharp, Samsung, AU Optronics (AUO), Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) and many other LCD manufacturers make use of LCD panel technology that is based on VA or Vertical Alignment to enhance viewing angles. The few exceptions include LG Display and IPS Alpha that make use of a different technology called IPS or In-Plane Switching to improve viewing angles.

Source:DisplayBlog by Jin on November 10, 2009

They're creepy and they're kooky; the Royal Family

Last night, I turned into The National - like most who've made their opinions known, I'm not a fan of the new format - to see what the At Issue gang would be talking about. I did so more begrudgingly than usual - I was expecting more talk about how Ignatieff isn't connecting with the public, or how the government is either bungling or doing a perfect job of doling out H1N1 vaccinations, or maybe, if they were feeling particularly topical, talk about the new immigration booklet.

Instead? They talked about the Queen. And the royal family. And the governor-general. If any of them matter to Canadians. If any of them should matter questions.

And save for Andrew Coyne inexplicably referring to Prince Charles as 'Paul', it was a pretty good discussion. You can replay it here.

My thoughts? While we obviously need to have something to act as a check on the Prime Minister, I'm not sure that the Crown, in its current practice, is the best way of going about that.

Consider the current disconnect between the Canadian people and the royal family themselves - they're an ocean away, and every few years one of them comes over here for a visit. Of course it's going to be hard for Canadians to accept that these people have actual power over us - they're never here, how could they possibly know what's best for Canada!

Coyne proposed an off-the-wall suggestion to this problem - bring over Prince Harry (or whomever), call him King Harry, and have him start up a new branch of the dynasty, one with strong Canadian roots. Although I don't think he ever explicitly states it, I assume Coyne means that the Governor-General position would thus be abolished.

I can't be in favour of that. Britain is currently mulling over the monarchy in their own way - the biggest argument being that one family, accustomed to privilege, should maybe not be the ultimate rulers of the United Kingdom. Regardless of whether that argument is right or wrong, why transplant it over here when we have the opportunity to do something better? And do we really want to bring in our own version of the tabloid culture that surrounds the family in Britain?

My suggestion is a simple one: change the process of who picks the governor-general. Right now, it seems like the trendy thing to do is to pick a GG who falls into an ethnic minority because if we ever get accused of only letting old white guys into our political elite we can just go 'nuh-uh!' and point at the GG.

The problem with this is that the people who become governor-general are not people who have any particular qualification to be our country's ultimate ruler - either political or popular. So when something like last winter's parliamentary crisis comes along, people are left with doubts that the GG either understands their duty or will ultimately make the right decision.

Solution: get better governors-general. Jean Beliveau. Rick Hansen. Romeo Dallaire. People who have the respect of the public and embody the Canadian spirit. People with no known political affiliations. People who have such a mythical aura about them that Canadians would unflinchingly accept that, in a time of crisis, these people will know what to do.

The appointment process is also a bit of a tricky issue - as long as the Prime Minister is the de facto selector, there will always be an element of politicization in the GG position. My first thought was that maybe the Supreme Court should become the torch-bearers for this, in a sudden burst of relevance. But this time, I have to defer to Coyne - have the highest-level members of the Order of Canada select the GG, who because of the criteria I outlined above will likely be among their ranks already, in a similar fashion to how the College of Cardinals selects new popes.

Nothing else would change. The GG would still be required, by convention, to follow the PM's advice in all but the most dubious of times, and the British Crown, again by convention, would follow the GG's advice essentially always.

Is it likely to happen? Probably not. The amount of work it takes to change even one word in the constitution is likely to scare off any politicians from trying these changes, and our propensity for minority governments means that we're unlikely to see any PM with a mandate to make this sort of change for a long time anyhow.

But it's a nice thought.

--Ryan

"Bagong Botante" New Voters Education Live Webstream

This is the webstream of "Bagong Botante" (New Voters) Education campaign in partnership with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).This is broadcasted live from MagNet Cafe in Bonifacio High Street. Play the video below for the recording.Streaming .TV shows by UstreamReference websites:BagongBotante.comPoliticalArena.com"Bagong Botante" (New Voters) Education campaign.

Pacquiao vs Cotto Fight Update

Manny Pacquiao is at it again, a few months after bringing down Ricky Hatton. This time, he is fighting Miguel Cotto on a 145-pound weight limit this coming Nov. 14 (Nov 15 9am Philippine time) in Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena.Pacquiao vs Cotto FightBoth Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto are considered among the world’s finest boxers. Bob Arum, who had much to do about the matchup, was

LED Flowers

This high-tech plant life does away with such petty annoyances as dirt, water and sunlight, replacing them with an ongoing thirst for electricity. Each kit comes complete bendy branches, tipped off with bright and colorful LEDs.

While these particular ones are only available in Korea and come with a 220-volt power adapter, not long later, we should be able to get it in China and Hong Kong.

Design a dramatic and elegant atmosphere in any lobby or entryway, or create a garden of light with these beautiful illuminated L.E.D. Cherry Blossom Trees. They are safe, as they emit little heat and run off low voltage UL approved adapters. Each LED is sealed by a PVC shell and can take some damp weather. They consume only little power. Ideal for indoor use or covered outdoor use. These Trees are approximately 30" tall.

· Crafted by hand, this tree glows with 200 vivid LED blossoms
· Cannot be placed in water
· UL-approved
· 12" wide, 30" tall
· Cool to the touch

About $122

Please do not water it! It won’t grow with your water!

Feverip

Nescafe Soundskool 13 Finalist Profiles

Top 13 college bands comprise the Nescafe Soundskool 2009 finalist profiles! One of them is going to be the ultimate grand prize winner of P250,000 and more!They are the following:3 HOURS AND 10Jaydunn Lagahit – bass guitarHanson Gascon- lead guitarJoharni Bendoy- drumsJoyous Harry Bendoy- vox/rhythm guitarSchool: University of the Visayas - Mandaue3 Hours and 10 is only a year and a half years

Struggling LG Innotek LED Unit Could Hurt LG's TV Business

LG Innotek CEO Hur Young-ho

Flat screens using LED backlights are slimmer, more power-efficient and offer sharper images than those lit by traditional cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs).

Since Mar 2009, LED backlit LCD TVs are currently at the focus of the television industry’s competition. There are pioneers like Samsung, Sony, Sharp and LG who are the major suppliers of LCD TV in the past. They are now working on plan how to pursue the champion of this huge dollar valued Consumer sales. According to the LCD TV shipment data, Samsung was the No.1, followed by Sony, Sharp and LG as the world largest LCD TV supplier in 2008. In this year, Samsung maintains No.1 and LG is the 2nd and followed by Sony and then Sharp as the Rank of World LCD TV shipment . And this will be likely the same for next year.

Led by Samsung Electronics, the global LED TV market has rapidly been increasing as consumers are allured by the enhanced picture qualities and energy saving features amid signs of economic recovery. Sep 09, Kang Shin-ik, LG's television chief, had said it would sell 7 million units of LED TVs in 2010. LG Electronics had lowered its LED TV sales target for 2010 to 5 in a third quarter earnings briefing last month.

"It is difficult to predict the global LED TV market as the segment has been on a faster expansionary track. That's why our target sales are having flexibility," an official at LG Electronics said.

The troubles at LG Innotek is leading to uncertainties over LG Electronics' LED backlit LCD television business, with the consumer electronics maker continuing to adjust targets seemingly every other week.

LG Electronics’s LED chip provider is LG Innotek is not able to meet the demand of LED for LGE. LG Electronics, being the world's second-largest flat-screen television maker, is worrying that they are not afford to be lagging behind of in LED backlit LCD TVs business.

Improving cost competitiveness is critical for LG Electronics as one of the South Korea’s biggest Conglomerates, has been forced to go for intensive vertical integration in order to get the best production cost for LCD TV. On the other hand, Samsung has been facing with this headache, just been a bit smarter to have the LCD TV being launched into the market earlier with the LED-backlit models.

LG Innotek and LG Display is handling the chips and LCD screens business respectively would be a way to run their core business effectively and independently.However, recent struggles of LG Innotek continues to see its stock prices plummet with 40% drop and its ability to supply LED chips was questioned by LG Electronics.

The drop in stock prices reflects the worries of investors over LG Innotek's capability to finance its LED business and uncertainties over the market conditions for LED products.LG Innotek, which makes LED components and LCD modules, said it planned to invest about $970 million by the end of 2010 to boost its production capability.

Company officials are struggling to find ways to raise more fund for its LED business including plans to issue new shares. At the end of October 2009, LG Innotek's debt-to-equity ratio stood at 64 percent, and the company has already issued bonds worth more than 100 billion won combined.

It will be challenging for LG Innotek to finance its aggressive LED capital expenditure with only EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) earnings and debt. A sharp deterioration of the company's printed circuit board (PCB) margins, higher competition and rising inventories amid the approaching year-end season are also expected to weigh on the company's profit structure, analysts said.

Some say the lowered target was due to insufficient chip capability from Innotek. However, we could receive the necessary components by expanding our outsourcing channels.The Innotek spokesmen said the company was on a stable route to strengthen its LED chip abilities and added that more related measures would come.Additionally, LG Display is planning to absorb the LCD module operations of LG Innotek.

Innotek, in return, will receive a cash infusion that will allow it to concentrate on LEDs. "LG Innotek will earn 1.5 trillion won in LED sales in 2012. Still, they are in the process of vertical integration of our LED businesses from LED backlighting, wafers, chips and packaging to module operations.LG Innotek, which merged with another LG Group component-producing arm, LG Micron, in July, has LG Electronics, LG Display, Nokia, Motorola and Japan's Sharp as its biggest clients.

Feverip

Source Korea Times.

Asia Biggest Light Fair

13-Apr-2010 to 16-Apr-2010
Event Timing:
09:30am - 06:30pm

Industry:
Electronics & Electrical Goods & Supplies
Event Place:
Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Hong Kong, China (Hong Kong S.A.R.)

Organizer:
Hong Kong Trade Development Council

Expected Visitors: 30,000

Event Profile

Hong Kong International Lighting is an International Electronics & Electrical Goods & Supplies Industry exhibition. It features the cutting edge technologies & ground-breaking designs of lighting industry.

The previous edition 27-30 Oct covered 1,572 exhibitors from 33 countries & 28,210 visitors from across the globe.

Feverip

Twenty albums you should hear (Part I)

I told you I'd have something more fun.

On this blog, I have never tried to hide the fact that I like music, and my joy that I'm finally discovering new music. What I have had a problem with is relaying that music to you in any sort of consistent fashion - my 'summer music project' ended up a dud as my tastes moved elsewhere, and I seem to go in spurts where I listen to music faster than I can blog about it, then not try anything new for months.

So, here's my latest attempt. Twenty albums, by twenty different artists, split alphabetically into four groups of five - which also should mean more frequent updates. Two or three that I'd expect most people to know, a few more that I've mentioned here before, and plenty that you've likely never heard of. Let's get on with it!

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Pitchfork, the Internet home of all hipsters and elitists, gave this a 9.6/10. Even though it was released in early January, many said confidently that it would be the greatest album of 2009 - and they just might be right. Scott Feschuk listed "My Girls" as the second-best song of the year, and called the band "Brian Wilson crossed with Passion Pit and four tabs of acid" - despite not really being a fan of the band. (But then, what would a political writer know about music?)

The obvious criticism of this album - one even Feschuk noticed - is that patterns and repetition play a big part in making MPP what it is. And that's valid. But is that really such a bad thing? Sure, most of these songs on their own aren't anything special - but together, in an album, punctuated by breaks for "Summertime Clothes" or "Lion In A Coma"? It works. It's almost magical.

(Yes, I'm aware how that last bit sounded.)

Merriweather Post Pavilion starts off with three of the most pattern-heavy songs, including the obscenely catchy "My Girls", which only gets slightly worse once you give in to temptation and Google the lyrics. Then you get a nice break with "Summertime Clothes", which is one of my favourite songs ever. I thought "Summertime Clothes" might be the best hipster love song of 2009 - until two tracks later, when "Bluish" blew it right out of the water and staked a claim for best hipster love song of all time. Then you get back into the indistinguishable pattern songs, break for "Lion In A Coma", and finish with endless repetitions of "it's what I HOPED for!" and "OPEN UP YOUR OPEN UP YOUR OPEN UP YOUR OPEN UP YOUR!".

Do not listen to Merriweather Post Pavilion by Youtubing songs at random. Find the entire album - Pitchfork's got it, apparently - and listen to it in one sitting. That's how you'll get the most out of it.

The Beatles - Abbey Road
Now this one you'll know. This is the only pre-90s album on my list of twenty (and one of only three from the 20th century), but it has earned its place based on merit.

Most Beatles albums were a bunch of Lennon/McCartney songs with George and Ringo vocals thrown in from time to time, but the albums never had the flow to them that Abbey Road does. Other than the break between side one and side two, every song flows seamlessly into the next.

"Something" and "Here Comes The Sun" are George's two best Beatles songs by miles, possibly even two of the best Beatles songs - Frank Sinatra considered "Something" the best love song of all time (although maybe he'd have had another opinion had he heard "Bluish"), and even "Octopus's Garden" was actually written by Ringo, as opposed to the traditional structure of John writing a song for Ringo to sing.

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is long, epic, and decades ahead of its time - arguably one of the biggest influences on prog rock, even if it does start to drone on a bit by the sixth minute.

And you're a fan of album-oriented rock, the sixteen-minute medley at the end is one of the pioneering suites to which you owe a thank you - "Mean Mr. Mustard", "The End", "Carry That Weight" all being parts of the Beatles' popular legacy despite clearly never being radio singles. In today's world, it's impossible for anything to have that sort of impact unless it's played on the radio for months on end.

Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies
I am generally not a fan of singer-songwriters. Jack Johnson, Ryan Adams, even Sufjan Stevens is more likely to put me to sleep than to make me think "wow, this is good". But Dan Bejar of Destroyer (and the New Pornographers, and Swan Lake, and Hello, Blue Roses) is an exception - probably because he bursts into energy when you least expect it, and has madcap rambling lyrics that very occasionally make something resembling sense.

Sort of like that last clause.

Although Trouble in Dreams is newer (as is the two-song, 20-minute EP Bay of Pigs), Rubies is in my opinion Destroyer at its best.

"Rubies", the first track, is nine-and-a-half minutes of trademark Bejar insanity, including an opening five seconds about jackknifed cyclones with eyes for your wife. From there it's off to "Your Blood" and "European Oils" for more normal singer-songwriter fare - still nice and catchy, though. A few tracks later, we get "3000 Flowers", which is possibly the most rock-sounding thing Destroyer's ever done, even if the lyrics ("with scars where talons used to be?") are confusing. The album wanders a bit towards the end, but brings itself back with "Watercolours Into The Ocean", even if it is a tad repetitive.

This is one album that you could just take song by song. You might just like "Rubies" or "3000 Flowers", you might like everything else, I don't know. There's diversity.

The Duckworth Lewis Method - The Duckworth Lewis Method
If Lennon and McCartney had written exclusively about cricket, this would be the result. Insanely catchy, odds are you'll be singing along with some choruses and it'll take you two or three listens to realize the subject matter is always cricket.

Not knowing anything about cricket aside from a few words - and no, 'sticky wicket' does not show up in the lyrics - in no way hinders enjoyment of this album, because it's just that much fun.

The comparison to The Beatles above wasn't accidental - if they'd stayed together a few more years and taken a very slight bit of inspiration from the funk movement, "The Age of Revolution" could have easily been a Beatles hit, while "Meeting Mr. Miandad" sounds like it was taken right off a late-sixties Beatles' B-side.

"The Age of Revolution" really does kick off the best part of the album, followed by a song which wouldn't sound out of place on an oldies or classic hits radio station in "Gentlemen and Players", and then "The Sweet Spot", which as far as I can tell is not meant as sexual innuendo in the least.

Then comes "Jiggery Pokery", which was my first favourite off the album - and I've already got it more or less memorized. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be memorizing and loving a song with "Aussie skullduggery" and "accident-prone buffoon" languishing in the chorus, but I also never thought I'd like an album about cricket.

"Mason on the Boundary" is another decent old-style song, then there's a brief break while "Rain Stops Play" before we get to go to Pakistan and "Meeting Mr. Miandad" gets stuck in our heads for the next fortnight. Although "Test Match Special" tries to perk things back up, the final four songs are a bit disappointing considering what's come before - but all in all, still a very good album.

Elephant Stone - The Seven Seas
A good Canadian band - Destroyer being the only other one in this batch - which is always a plus. I don't have as much to say about these guys as I do some of the others, possibly because they only have one album and I've only listened to it twice (although some songs more).

A great first impression is made by "Bombs Bomb Away", the first track - it's cool, it's catchy, and it's more-or-less accessible. "A Morning Song", track eight, has a similar effect, helped no doubt by the twangy bass riff. The ninth and final track, "Don't You Know", is also decent - but unfortunately, none of the middle six particularly stand out.

It's good background music, there's nothing jarring that would wake you from a light nap, nothing that will cause any eavesdroppers to wonder what the heck you're listening to, and easy enough to listen to while focusing most of your concentration on something else. Still worth a listen, and there's some great potential for the future.

--Ryan

ASM MS899DL Map sorting LED machine

The LED wafer has to be tested by wafer prober machine at wafer level, that was tested by probing onto the LED e-poles and the light intensity and lambda are measured. This measured data together with the known X-Y coordinator was record sequentially into a map file. This wafer will be sawn either by Blade sawing machine or laser cut and then break by rolling with special non-electrostatic roller.

Then the LEDs will be passed onto a Map sorter machine to perform the map sorting
There is roughly 30K LED chip of 7milx7mil on a 4” sawn and wafer.

ASM Map sorter MS899DL had been the earliest developed machine platform with enormous experience and process know how on handling the alignment of the chip on the Wafer.

As we can see that if there is a die being sorted wrongly, the rest of the dies will not be correctly been binned. That is a huge losson the LED and that could write off a few thousand dollars.
MS899DL is the latest 3rd generation platform with high speed sorting time of 220 ms for 9mil x9 mil LED Chip.

There is a total 100 bin grades on film frame stored up in form of cassettes. All the operation will be done automatically. An option of AOI (Automatic Optical Inspection) system on the wafer inspection to screen out all those bad cut dies, contaminated or chipped die which was not found at the original panel form.
A auto bar code scanner to read the bar code for auto retrieve of the maps from intranet is the standard operation.

There are certain similar map sorting machines in the market but due to lacking or process experience and support from a mature core technology of vision, motion and linear motion control Technology. There is no way to be qualified by larger LED supplier in the world due to weak software integrity, higher down time and not able to meet a good placement accuracy of +/-1.25 mil at CpK 1.33.

Supported by a team of professional service and process engineering team, ASM can be your only choice for your next buy of Map sorter.

For More Information, you may visit ASM official website :
http://www.asmpacific.com/asmpt/index.htm

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